How To

Serials Management Project 2008

For over a decade, managing serials collections in academic libraries has been a challenge for those that continue to face annual serials price inflation of 7-9% and budgetary uncertainty. While other campuses are planning serials cancellations, the UCI Libraries do not anticipate having to do this. Through careful serials management and with the support of the Chancellor and EVC, UCI has been able to maintain serials collections and make incremental additions in support of new and existing academic programs.

The UCI Libraries will continue to take steps to manage the serials collection, to avoid a serials cancellation, and to continue providing critical resources for teaching and research.

One strategy is to minimize the duplication of content, and when the content is equivalent, to give preference to digital formats over print. The UCI Libraries are engaged in a review of serials subscriptions where we currently purchase both the print and electronic versions of a title. At this time, we have identified a number of titles where we feel confident that we can rely solely on the electronic version with a minimum of problems for the campus community.

Our proposed journal lists are composed of selected print titles that duplicate the electronic content. Online access is available to UCI users, and if the print versions are needed as a backup, users will be able to receive articles via digital desktop delivery or interlibrary loan. In many cases, the UC system has perpetual access to the online content and receives one print archival copy of each journal as part of our contracts. These archival copies are being stored in the shared print journal archive at the Southern Regional Library Facility (SRLF). So the long-term archiving and accessibility of the journal content are well assured.

This de-duplication of formats will help us to maintain serials subscription obligations next year without a more serious cancellation project as well as cover the 7-9% annual increase in serials prices. In addition to these savings, this action offsets the behind-the-scenes costs of processing, binding and shelving print materials. The savings realized from this duplicate format review will allow us to leverage our limited resources more effectively and to continue to support new and emerging academic needs on campus.

This approach is in alignment with guidelines established by the UC Libraries’ Systemwide Library and Scholarly Information Committee (SLASIAC), which has issued various resolutions that recommend creating shared print collections and exploring ways to manage library resources. The results of the UC-wide Collection Management Initiative (CMI), sponsored by the Mellon Foundation, helped influence these decisions. The study and experience demonstrated that UC library users overwhelmingly prefer to use the electronic version as opposed to a print version when electronic is available and complete.

While we have carefully reviewed these titles, we understand that there may be special circumstances concerning a particular title and we ask that you inform us of that and share comments by contacting your Subject Librarian or Lorelei Tanji, AUL for Collections, by Friday, November 14, 2008. Your support of this format review will help us to maintain our library resources during these challenging economic times.